It’s been 6 months since the launch of LoveThatBass and our mission to deliver regular, quality, drum & bass news!
To mark this first milestone in our journey I thought I’d give you a bit of an insight into how this website came about, and what I’m hoping to do with LoveThatBass going forward.
Inception
This platform was something I’d been thinking about for a very long time. I’ve touched upon similar work in my role as promotions manger for drum n bass event brand Innovation. Having to write the blurb for the flyers, articles about the events and artists playing at the events, hyping up the attractions of the incredible D&B clubbing holidays really sparked my interest in writing and made me consider doing something along these lines… But it was only ever an idea.
Then of course, in March 2020, the events industry suddenly & unexpectedly ground to a halt. I, like everyone else who worked in and around nightlife, found myself out of work. A position I’d not been in for a very long time. The drum & bass industry had kept me busy for many years, promoting, DJing, running my record label and making the odd track here and there. For a while the lack of work was a blessing. Working in events, especially at the level I was at, can be all consuming.
After a few weeks I started to become restless. My mind is one that needs to be occupied, I know I’m not the only one, this pandemic has seen some amazing examples of lockdown creativity from producers, livestreamers & film makers. It’s given many the time to explore avenues they may previously not considered.
My biggest spark of creativity was the idea for this websites name LoveThatBass! It’s snappy, uncomplicated and is the prerequisite for people wanting to visit a site like this!!
The Concept
From the start I didn’t want this to be a carbon copy of other drum & bass news sites. Mainly because I’d heard a lot of industry people moaning about certain D&B sites, how they are too elitist, and how they don’t represent the FULL Drum n Bass scene.
My aim was more of a D&B Magazine type vibe, a bit like KMag & ATM used be. Something to be updated regularly so drum and bass lovers could log on a few times a week to find out what’s going on.
For many years people have used social media as their news source. Unfortunately for many artists & labels the shear amount of traffic each day on Facebook makes it hard to get content seen. I wanted a place where people could come get their D&B fix, bypassing social media altogether.
Driven By Passion
LoveThatBass is basically a 1 man show. I have friends who help out, Jamie for example who’s written some great content, but the bulk of the work is done by me scrolling through my phone book to get the inside stories for you.
I’m in the fortunate position of being able to pick up the phone to the likes of DJ Phantasy to ask him about his recent Phantasyland stream with Rampage. I was able to hassle Benny V & Serum to get the label focus on their Souped Up imprint. I’ve had some real good chats with MC’s Inja & Fatman D, both people I have a lot of time for and it was great to get their stories… Hopefully the personal touch came through in the articles?
Even sourcing the merchandise was something I was passionate about. I wanted quality, even if it cost a little more. The only guy for the job was T>I, someone I’ve known for many years, who also happens to make all the merchandise for D&B record labels such as Ram Records, Critical, Metalheadz & Souped Up. If you’ve ever bought from those labels then you’ll know the print & quality of the clothing is spot on.
Of course building a tidy looking drum & bass news site & sourcing quality merchandise comes at a cost. The money I used to get all this off the ground didn’t come from some rich investor, or money loaded management company, it all came from my own pocket, during a time when I wasn’t sure where my next penny was coming from (I’m still not sure!!). This is the sort of passion there is behind this project… So far the investment is looking good!
The Launch
I launched LoveThatBass with a handful of drum & bass news articles. The variety in those initial articles about Harry Shotta, Keep It Real life coaching, the D&B Documentary have set the standard for the quality of content going forward. Also I have to thank Stranjah for giving the website the time of day before we even had a D&B site to shout about, we’ve built a good professional relationship with him & built a decent audience with the drum n bass community in Toronto… It’s definitely somewhere I need to visit once global travel is once again possible!
So far I’ve managed to stick to the initial brief of covering all styles and flavours of drum and bass, from the big labels and acts like Hospital Records, Chase & Status, Netsky & Voltage, to new labels, producers & artists like DNBVibes, J Mulla & Harley D. LoveThatBass has covered jump up from Nu Elementz & Ego Trippin, jungle music from Overshadow, Reinforced & Deep Jungle, and liquid flavours from Technimatic, Cyantific & Ben Rolo. I’ve not even mentioned the drum & bass production articles!!
6 Months In
Over the first 6 months I’m pleased to say that your support in this platform has been overwhelming. Our social media numbers could be a little higher, but to be honest the main focus for me has been on getting quality D&B content onto the site, not wasting money buying social media followers.
The Google Analytics are telling me that we’re moving in the right direction. Our website traffic has been steadily growing month on month. With your help, and maybe a click on the right place, I’m sure the following on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter will follow suit.
Whenever you see an article you enjoy please take a few seconds to share it with your friends, every little helps ?
What’s Next?
Last month the LoveThatBass record label was launched. The debut release from Harley D is already doing well. The follow up single is coming very soon
I also set a podcast in motion, covering all styles of drum & bass music just like you’d expect to see in our articles. Fresh episodes of LoveThatBass Radio will be released each month.
Already I’ve started to restructure the monthly ‘Guest List’ newsletter to make it a bit more colourful & interesting to look at. Make sure you sign up to stay up to date, you’ll also get 10% off your first merchandise order for joining. Don’t worry you we won’t bombard you with spam & you can unsubscribe at at time.
Let Me Know
Beyond that what happens next with LoveThatBass is down to YOU! I want this to be a community of D&B lovers from across all sub genres from around the World.
Get in touch, let me know what you want to see more of? Want production tips or a mix from a certain artist? Tag us and them on social media & I’ll see what I can do. Found an up & coming DJ you like? Tell them to send us a mix so we can help get their name out there. Made a sick D&B tune? Send it over, we might want it for the LoveThatBass label!
Don’t Be A Stranger
At the very least, simply keep visiting each week. Bookmark us in your browser. Spend 10 minutes less aimlessly scrolling through shit on social media and visit this site instead, we’re sure there’ll be some new drum & bass news for you to read ?
